ARK: Survival Ascended Out of Memory
What is this error?
ARK: Survival Ascended crashed with an out-of-memory error. The UE5 remake of ARK is extremely resource-hungry, often exceeding available RAM and VRAM.
Common causes
- insufficient RAM
- VRAM exhaustion
- memory leak
- small pagefile
- too many structures/dinos loaded
- background apps using memory
How to fix it
- Increase virtual memory
- lower graphics settings
- close background apps
- reduce loaded structures
Too many steps? Crashless can diagnose this automatically — checks your drivers, temps, VRAM, and 400+ known error patterns.
Get free AI diagnosis Detailed analysis
ARK: Survival Ascended ran out of memory and crashed. This game is a notorious resource hog — the UE5 version makes the original look lightweight by comparison.
Fix it:
- Increase your virtual memory NOW: System Properties > Advanced > Performance Settings > Virtual Memory > Change > set Initial to 32768 MB and Maximum to 65536 MB. Yes, really. ARK SA needs an absurd pagefile
- Lower memory-heavy graphics settings: World Tile Buffers to Low, View Distance to Medium, Textures to Medium, Shadows to Low. ARK SA at Epic settings needs 12GB+ VRAM
- Close absolutely everything else running. Chrome, Discord, launchers, everything. ARK SA routinely uses 16GB+ RAM
- Enable 'Memory Prioritize Streaming' in ARK's advanced graphics if available
- If you have 16GB RAM, you're going to keep crashing in busy areas. ARK SA really wants 32GB
- On multiplayer servers with mega-bases, flying over large bases will crash you. Avoid rendering massive structures if possible
- Verify game files on Steam — corrupted assets can cause memory spikes
- Update your GPU driver
- Consider adding '-lowmemory' to Steam launch options as a temporary workaround
When to seek help
If this error keeps happening after trying the fixes above, it may point to a deeper hardware or system issue. Consider professional help if:
- The crash occurs across multiple games or applications
- You see the same error after a clean Windows install
- Your PC is less than a year old (could be a warranty issue)
- You smell burning or hear unusual sounds from your PC
Or let Crashless do the deep analysis for you -- our AI checks drivers, temps, event logs, and 400+ known patterns automatically.
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